Chapter 11

011.

The Rock Tribe village had returned to peaceful daily life after the Red Moon passed.

But another storm was raging inside my heart, and the name of that storm was material desire.

Barbarian Izak does not endure.

“Chief! I’m here!”

Crash-!

I barged in by kicking open the entrance to Zakan’s tent, which had become more familiar to me than my own home, and Zakan greeted me without looking particularly surprised.

The fact that he no longer reacted even when I suddenly barged in made me feel strangely awkward, but I brought up my business first.

“What is it, Izak?”

“I need something.”

“What? Just say it. I will search the entire wasteland if I have to and bring it back.”

Zakan’s answer was dependable, but this time, it was not something your muscles could solve.

I shook my head at the admirable teenage chief and spoke.

“No. I want to go see it myself.”

“Where?”

“A market. Or a shop.”

Just putting those words in my mouth made my heart pound, as though rows of merchandise had spread out before my eyes.

With an ecstatic expression, I listed the things I wanted.

“I want to go buy things. I want salt, tools, and seeds.”

Zakan stopped polishing his greatsword, looked at me, and tilted his head.

“A market? A shop?”

“…….”

What? What kind of answer is that??

“A place where people buy and sell things. A place where people gather and trade.”

“Ah, a place for trade.”

Only then did he nod, before making a troubled expression.

“You know many difficult things, but you seem to know very few easy things.”

“……Ahem.”

He had an uncanny knack for hitting the mark.

He was pointing out that while I knew advanced information like a wyvern’s weaknesses and attack strategies, I did not even know the geography around here or the names of the barbarians I lived with like family.

But it could not be helped.

I was not the real Izak, but Kang Jin-ho borrowing his body.

I had none of the real Izak’s memories inside my head.

At times like this, shamelessness was best.

“I became like this after receiving the ancestral god’s wisdom.”

I clutched my head and put on the most sorrowful expression I could manage.

It was an Academy Award-worthy performance.

“A vessel must be very large to contain wisdom. But my vessel was too small, so I lost my old memories.”

Perfect method acting.

Amnesia was the万能 cheat code for fantasy novel protagonists, so this would probably work well.

But Zakan’s reaction was unusual.

He put down the sword he was holding and strode toward me.

‘Wh-what? Why? Why are you doing that? Did you figure out the truth? Are you going to kill me!?’

I flinched and tried to step backward, but he firmly grabbed my shoulders and looked down at me.

Gulp- As I slowly raised my head, Zakan’s eyes were wavering with deep sorrow and pity…… why?

“I am sorry. I did not know.”

“……??”

“They say there is no power without a price. To think you sacrificed precious memories to gain that great wisdom.”

Zakan’s voice trembled.

“If you cannot remember your father’s face or your mother’s embrace, it must be painful. Have you been enduring that loneliness alone?”

“Ah? It’s not really that hard…….”

“Do not worry, Izak.”

Zakan gripped my shoulder hard enough to crush it and spoke with the most serious eyes in the world.

“I am your brother. All the children of the tribe are your family. We will fill the space left by your lost memories with new ones.”

“…….”

I was speechless.

A corner of my chest tightened.

I had merely lied to cover myself…… yet this innocent teenager was sincerely comforting me.

I remembered Zakan’s Intelligence stat that I had checked with Peeking.

Intelligence 11.

Considering the barbarian average was barely 4 to 5, he was definitely intelligent.

But that intelligence did not manifest as the cunning of a world-weary adult, but as wisdom and sensitivity capable of empathizing with another person’s pain.

‘But…… isn’t that unfair?’

He fights well, has S-rank potential, and he’s pretty handsome…… and he even has a good personality?

It was the moment I felt sorry for Malko, who was probably sleeping in the tent next door.

If Malko had been smart too, he might have been S-rank, but God had given him an enormous nose instead.

Anyway, receiving unexpected, gentle consolation did not feel bad at all.

Kang Jin-ho had been horribly unlucky with people in his previous life, yet here in this savage land, I was feeling this kind of warmth.

“Thank you, Zakan.”

I cleared my throat and settled the atmosphere.

“So…… where is the shop?”

Zakan looked at me as though suddenly remembering, then returned to his troubled expression.

Then he declared confidently.

“I do not know.”

Why! Why don’t you know? What am I supposed to do if you don’t know!?

Perhaps he heard my internal scream, because Zakan continued.

“Our tribe has never left this Black Frontier for generations. Did you not learn that guarding the barrier has been our mission since our grandfathers’ grandfathers? So I do not know.”

That’s not something to brag about, bastard.

Suppressing a deep surge of irritation for the first time in a while, I asked him.

“Then what about that pot? And that leather armor you’re wearing? Humans made all of those.”

“Ah, I got these from a merchant.”

“A merchant?”

My ears perked up.

“A merchant comes here? Here?”

“Yes. There is a merchant who visits periodically.”

Oh! As expected!

The flower of fantasy, a traveling merchant!

That mysterious being who suddenly appears in the wasteland, sells rare items, and disappears!

“When does he come? Where does he come?”

Zakan suddenly became mute again.

You bastard…… don’t tell me.

“I do not know.”

“Hey!”

I shouted without realizing it.

You said he comes! You said he comes periodically!

Zakan tilted his head as though confused.

“Are you not the shaman who records the dates?”

Ah…….

Right. Sorry.

“I do not know the date, but I know that merchant comes on the 15th of every month.”

Whew…… sometimes talking to this guy makes my blood pressure rise.

He has a real talent for making even simple stories difficult.

Tsk.

.

.

.

Anyway, I was lucky.

The Red Moon had risen on May 8th, and today was May 15th.

Incredibly, the merchant was scheduled to arrive exactly around the time my material desires had driven me half-mad.

My heart pounded.

A merchant. What kind of goods would he sell? We had more than 500 D-rank potatoes.

How much would they be worth in currency?

‘Holy crap, what should I buy?’

Just imagining it made me happy.

One sack of salt? No, two sacks? What about an iron cauldron or frying pan?

‘Give me everything from here to here.’

Couldn’t I do something like that?

“Izak! Someone’s coming over there!”

Malko’s shout came from the village entrance where he was standing guard.

I dropped what I was doing and dashed outside.

Someone appeared with children trailing behind him in a line like the Pied Piper.

‘……Huh? That’s the traveling merchant?’

The merchant I had imagined was a pot-bellied, bearded, good-natured—or greedy-looking—middle-aged man.

But the person walking toward us from afar completely defied my expectations.

A scrawny build.

A worn turban wrapped around his head, and dark skin tanned by the sun.

His face was covered in freckles, and he looked like a boy in his mid-teens at most.

The strange thing was the luggage on his back. He was casually carrying an enormous bundle that looked three times the size of his body.

He steadily walked forward, then respectfully bowed his head to Zakan, who was waiting in the center of the village.

When Zakan silently nodded.

“Howdy?”

What the hell is this now!

A thick rural dialect came out the moment he opened his mouth.

His gentle, camel-like eyes curved as he smiled pleasantly.

“Been a while, Chief. Y’all been doin’ well?”

The boy greeted him warmly.

“Yeah! Tofu, long time. Barbarians waited for Tofu!”

When Malko answered in his place, the boy grinned and lowered his bundle.

His name is Tofu? Like bean curd?

Boom- The sound was heavy enough to shake the ground.

“Was a little late this time. Monsters were stirrin’ up trouble all along the road, y’see. Nearly risked my life gettin’ here.”

The young merchant Tofu wiped away his sweat while speaking playfully.

With his innocent appearance and youthful voice, the tribe members dropped their guard and approached him.

But I stood behind them with my arms crossed, narrowed my eyes, and looked him over.

‘As they say, you can read a man by his face.’

In my experience, the guys who acted that innocent in business were the scariest.

And more importantly, he crossed this harsh wasteland while carrying that enormous load?

With those skinny arms and legs?

I guarantee it. This guy was no ordinary person.

Regardless of my suspicions, the actual trading began.

The Rock Tribe familiarly brought out the goods they had collected.

‘Animal hides, monster teeth and bones, and various odds and ends.’

They were trophies the hunting party had risked their lives to obtain.

Unfortunately, magical beasts were worthless even if you killed them.

Unlike ordinary monsters, they turned into ash and disappeared when they died.

‘If they were profitable, they wouldn’t leave the frontier in front of this barrier abandoned like this.’

Anyway, Tofu took out a monocle and put it over one eye, making him look quite professional.

He turned the hides over this way and that, examined cross-sections of bones through a magnifying lens, and began appraising them carefully.

“Hmm…….”

Every time he clicked his tongue or tilted his head, our tribe members nervously swallowed.

They clearly looked anxious, wondering whether their goods were poor quality.

After quite a long time, he finally seemed to finish the appraisal. He politely clasped his hands together and bowed.

“Chief, and all you barbarians.”

Tofu opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“These goods this time…… honestly, the quality ain’t very good.”

“……Is that so?”

Zakan asked, looking disappointed.

“Yep. Look at this hide here. Too many blade marks, so it’ll be hard to sell. And this tooth is so old it’s already gone brittle.”

Tofu pointed out the flaws one by one.

As he explained using difficult professional terminology, the innocent barbarians simply nodded along.

“Still…… we’ve got our relationship with the Rock Tribe, don’t we? Even if I take a little loss, I’ll buy all of it.”

When Tofu spoke as though he were making a generous sacrifice, the barbarians’ expressions brightened.

“Thank you, Tofu! As expected, you are good friend!”

“Tofu is kind!”

Oh dear…… kids.

I had already used Peeking to check the value of the goods our kids had brought out.

Tofu was lying.

[Winter Wolf Hide – E-rank (Good), Tusk Boar Fang – D-rank (Excellent)]

At old game market prices, these should have fetched at least 100,000 shillings.

And yet that swindler was treating them like garbage.

“So how much for all of it?”

When Zakan asked, Tofu pretended to think for a while before speaking with an expression as though he were being generous.

“For all of it…… I’ll give ya three sacks of potatoes.”

What???

I doubted my ears.

Not money…… he was giving us potatoes?

“The condition’s a lot worse than last time. Normally, about 20 potatoes would be just right, but I’m addin’ way more special for y’all.”

Tofu rummaged through his bundle and pulled out potatoes.

They were shriveled and almost sprouting, low-quality potatoes.

F-rank, no, basically trash-level potatoes.

They were the exact kind of potatoes I had seen in the warehouse on the first day I arrived here!

But what was shocking was our kids’ reaction.

“Ooh-! Got three sacks of potatoes. Tofu is kind!”

“So many potatoes! Barbarians rich.”

Haa…….

They were genuinely delighted.

I was only now beginning to understand why these kids were so obsessed with potatoes.

These children were not idiots or morons. They were naive marks ignorant of the ways of the world, being swindled by people whose insides had been worn black from corruption!

I was so furious I almost wanted to cry.

“Here ya go. Deal’s done, right?”

Tofu grinned as he handed over the potatoes, and just as Zakan nodded and reached out his hand.

Smack-!

I roughly seized Tofu’s wrist.

“Stop right there.”

My voice came out so cold that even I was surprised.

Tofu looked up at me with startled eyes.

“Wh-what is it? Shaman??”

“You dealing from the bottom of the deck?”

“What’re ya talkin’ about? I don’t really understand. That hurts!”

When I tightened my grip on his wrist, he panicked.

I might not look it, but my Strength was 24. Crushing the wrist of a scrawny merchant like him would be easy.

Tofu’s face twisted.

‘Looks like you think I’m some easy sucker.’

I stared directly into his eyes and spoke.

“Where do you think you’re pulling this trick?”

You dared scam our kids?

You picked the wrong day.

I’ll strip you bare for everything you swindled from them.

No, I’ll take back twice as much.